More Information at www.LaJollaCluster.com

About 180 people turned out recently on a damp evening to hear about plans to organize the five La Jolla public schools. They learned that organizing the cluster would allow these schools to:

• Share ideas and resources.
• Identify common instructional goals for K-12.
• Build bridges between schools to ease transitions.
• Determine spending priorities.
• Have a unified voice when working with the district.
• Help shape how clusters are formed and utilized throughout the district.

If you couldn’t attend the Jan. 21 meeting at La Jolla High, you can view a presentation at the new cluster website, www.lajollacluster.com. Many questions from the audience and the answers provided are also available on the FAQs page. You can also signup as a volunteer or join the email list. Or you can read the following summary of the meeting:

Principal Chris Hargrave and her colleagues from La Jolla, Torrey Pines and Bird Rock elementaries attended the first-ever cluster meeting. Dana Shelburne of LJHS was absent, due to flooding problems resulting from the week's heavy rains. A few teachers from each of the schools were also in attendance. By a show of hands at the end of the evening, the audience demonstrated its support of the creation of a cluster-wide association for LJ public schools. When asked those opposed, only one audience member raised a hand.

Three members of the San Diego Unified School District governing board were in the audience to hear the presentation, as was Chief District Relations Officer Bernie Rhinerson. Board President Richard Barrera called the La Jolla cluster unification movement “exciting” and said that La Jolla would have a louder and more effective voice in communicating with the district regarding the needs of its cluster schools if it organized in this way. Board members John Evans and John de Beck also expressed their support.

A few days later, the SDUSD board voted 4-1 to support the Point Loma Cluster group’s efforts to “synergize school site budgets and district budget allocations to our cluster schools,” as the Point Loma Cluster described it on its website, PointLomaCluster.com.

The La Jolla Cluster organizing meeting was called by parents representing the five schools: La Jolla, Bird Rock and Torrey Pines elementaries, Muirlands Middle and La Jolla High. Representing Muirlands on the cluster organizing committee is Foundation President Alison Lee (alisonbowenlee@yahoo.com).